Saturday, April 6 La Spezia

Today was our day to visit Cinque Terre. Our host told us yesterday that the boats did not do tours until April 21 so out of luck there. Then, when we go to buy out National Park and train combo card, we are told that there is a race being held between Vernazza and Montessori, the only train open this time of year. Gee, what a bummer. Oh well, we get our tickets and decide to take the train to Monterosso. No worries about not getting any hikes in. Every village/town is above sea level so we get to climb many, many stairs.

Stairs

At some point this tree will fall

Lots of vines growing on the hillside

Beach in Monterosso

Looks like lava

Restaurant area at the base of the tower

St. Francis of Asissi

Beautiful flowers growing around the balcony

Montessori was awesome. We are very lucky that the sun is actually out mist of the time, so it is quite nice and getting warmer. We hop on the train and our next destination is Vernazza. It’s name means little Venice as the river used to flow through town and there were many bridges at one time. There is a castle here, a beach area, and a tower. We pay 1.50 Euro each to walk to the top of the old castle. Great views from here.

Love the colour of the water here.

Crazy stairways to climb, everyday for the people living there. 

Beautiful coastline. 

Next stop is Corniglia. It is not a coastal town like the others but man o man, what a walk up. The stairway zigzags up in the tune of 385 steps. We find out after where the bus stopped to pick up passengers who didn’t want to walk. I did want to scale the steps so no issues for me. Ron, not sure what he  would’ve chosen.

Ron making his way up. A little tough on the knees. 

Different angle

Staircase in the village

Breaker to hopefully save the beach in times of fierce storms.

Vineyards 

Santa Maria Belvedere church marks the end of the scenic views of Corniglia

Another staircase

Couldn’t resist this photo. 

We are then focussed on the next town called Manarola. 

A water wheel. Mills once powered the local olive oil industry.

Rock formations at the coast

Loved this. Old black and white photos of grape workers at the time.

Weird and wonderful facade of the stone wall.

Fishing boats are still out of the water for now. 

The final town is Riomaggiore. We are just about done with the climbing at this point. The views are still beautiful but are getting redundant at this point. We walk up to a church, done again and decide to try the local delicacy of fried calamari. 

Fried calamari that we share. Yummy

Church is dedicated to St John the Baptist

Tunnel on our way back to the station. 

It was getting pretty busy with tons of tourists, but from what we heard, this is nothing. In the peak season, May through Sept. it is bedlam. Glad we were a bit pre-season. 

We are back at our Airbnb by 4:30. Time to rest a bit, work on the blog, and check to see if our clothes hanging outside from the morning wash are dry. Ron has been looking for good reviews for a restaurant for tonight. We decide to try the same one as the one we missed out on last night. We walk about 30-35 minutes then ask someone where a certain street is. Well, lucky us it is very near. We walk over and there is our restaurant. It is 6:45 and they only open at 7:30 so we make a reservation for 7:30. We walk around and go sit in a park nearby. We are the first ones there at 7:30. The owners are father and son. The son speak some English and he is awesome. He sits us near an old heater in the closed in gazebo. The menu changes everyday so there is only the menu in his head. In Italy there are starters, first course, of pasta, the second course of meat or fish, then coffee and dessert. We both choose a pasta. Mine has fresh tuna and eggplant. Ron orders the fresh ravioli. For seconds I have the fish of the day with some peas and green beans and Ron has chicken strips and a salad. Forgot to mention that he served us two tapas to begin. One was sun dried tomatoes and zucchini in an oil base and the second was a tostini with two different pastes. Very tasty indeed. We washed it all down with water and 1/2 liter of red wine. This for a grand total of $27 Euros. So nice to ear where the locals eat. And no cover charge. Unfortunately I can’t upload the photos from supper as they are from my Samsung phone to my IPad. It doesn’t work. We get back around 9 and I’m finishing this, Ron is talking to his mom on the phone, and we are trying to pack up as our train leaves around 9:20 in the morning. Look out Tuscany, here we come.